New PS Sky replacement feature is not completely useless

[FB101]

With the August update of PS, Adobe has made some good improvements to their sky replacement feature.

Before and after - that was less than a 2mn job. I need to spend a bit more time with it obviously but it's definitely useable. One thing I noticed as I was testing another picture is that it doesn't handle sky reflections in water unlike some of the competitors so it will remain fairly limited in applicability because of that.

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[Palouse]

It's not for me.

 

[FB101]

It's not for me.

Fully agree; I was just experimenting to see how good / poor it was and like many "secondary" functions in PS, it's good enough in a pinch, not state of the art (like focus stacking, or depth of field mapping).
I can see some use for family portraits or casual shots - not for my wildlife or landscape photography.

 

[frdjohns]

It looks pretty good, actually. I don't think I would use it, and if I did I would be sure to mention that I had. I would not try to pass it off as a straight up photograph; to me it is an automated composite.

 

[kimball]

I would not try to pass it off as a straight up photograph; to me it is an automated composite.

Good description. I would go one step further and call it an "automated composite with stock sky photography" or something of the sort.

 

[bleirer]

It selects the subject pretty well, and you can output to a new layer with mask to refine further, and use your own sky. Of course we can do that manually already but it could be faster.

 

[FB101]

It selects the subject pretty well, and you can output to a new layer with mask to refine further, and use your own sky. Of course we can do that manually already but it could be faster.

It is faster, no question, at least at my skill level

 

[Woodyg3]

I use Select Sky every once in a while for a quick way to darken an overly bright sky. It is a time saver since it does a very good job of selecting the sky. I haven’t used the replace sky except to try it out. Normally I’d simply prefer the sky that was actually there.

 

[Andrew Lamberson]

It did a good job on that image!.

 

[RichF]

Sky replacement is a nice feature and often does a good job.

 

[RichF]

tools is not useful or useless. All depends upon the skill of the artist

 

[Backdoor Arts]

If I use it (and I have) it's generally to rid myself of a one dimensional sky - all gray, all blue. When I do I'll always use my own image and not one of theirs as I've managed to find multiple images out there on various forums with the same sky, and that's not a good look. LOL Also, when I do, I will not use it in any way that purposefully misrepresents what it is. I'll post it to social media, I'll offer it for sale, but I won't enter it in any challenges or contests unless they specifically ask and allow for composites.

As Rich said, it's a tool. It's not a hammer (ie. it's not an every-day tool), but it's got its place in the box.

 

[Wapiti]

I use sky replacements without reservation, as well as apologies.